This invention relates to a method and apparatus for controlling the flow of bakery and other items in a manufacturing process. More particularly, this invention relates to a method and apparatus that can be utilized to transfer bakery and other items from one conveyor to another and to align bakery and other items on conveyors in order to facilitate faster processing or the packaging of such items.
In many instances before an item can undergo further processing or be packaged, it must be brought into a particular alignment. This is the case with regard to many different items. This is particularly the case with regard to bakery items, and more particularly with regard to fragile bakery items. Various fragile bakery goods which will include various types of cookies, must be carefully handled and packaged so that the cookies will not be damaged and will be maintained in a separated condition. Such items need this type of packaging since if packaged in a random fashion the cookies would either become broken, marred in some manner, or if they contain a delicate or multiple coating, could become bonded one to the other. There is therefore a continuing need in the bakery art for specialized handling equipment for various types of products.
The present invention is directed to a method and apparatus for controlling the flow of items, and in particular bakery items, which are being fed to a packaging or some other operating point. The items could be aligned prior to being fed to an enrobing operation, or prior to being fed to a packaging operation. In any regards, one objective is to put the various items into an alignment so that they can be fed in an orderly and controlled manner. This is necessary in many operating sequences.
The present invention also provides a convenient technique for transferring items from one conveyor belt to another conveyor belt. Further, the conveyor belts need not be in the same plane. The technique is also gentle with regard to the item being transferred to thereby minimize damage to any of the items.
Various techniques have been utilized for the alignment of items, including bakery items. In some cases the apparatus consists of a gate mechanism which is controlled by either a mechanical switch means or a photo-electric switch means. In such cases, when there are a number of items on a conveyor and adjacent to the gate mechanism the gate mechanism is opened and permits a row of such items to move forward along a conveyor belt. In such equipment and methods, the various items will move forward on the same conveyor belt or will be allowed to move onto another conveyor belt which is adjacent to the gate mechanism. There are yet other types of apparatus that have been utilized for similar purposes. For instance, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,556,280 there is disclosed an apparatus for placing articles in rows on a conveyor. The conveyor belt receives the articles at one end and delivers them to the other end. At the other end a number of the articles are removed from the conveyor belt and are dropped downwardly onto a further transporting medium. This second transporting medium is transverse to the conveyor. However, there is not disclosed in this patent a technique of utilizing a rotatable wheel mechanism as a means to align a particular number of items.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,786,617 there is disclosed a device for the automatic filling of biscuits into packaging containers. In this patent there is disclosed a chute which contains a plurality of cookies which move downwardly through the chute. A given number of the cookies are released from the chute and moved downwardly onto a supporting surface. Once on the supporting surface, the given number of cookies are moved transversely over to a tray where the cookies are slid into the tray. As the trays are filled they move downwardly and complete the packaging sequence.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,812,647 discloses an apparatus for stacking and packaging food products. This apparatus is particularly adapted for round disc-shaped articles such as cookies. In this apparatus the cookies move in a single file along a series of conveyor belts. The cookies at the end of the conveyor belt are stacked to a given number. They are then moved forwardly onto a rotating table which moves the cookies around to a point where they will be slid onto a packaging tray.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,413,462 discloses an accumulator and stacker for sandwich cookies, biscuits and similar articles In this mechanism cookies are accumulated and stacked one on top of the other. These individual two-high stacks can then be further stacked to increase the size of the stack prior to packaging. This patent discloses an interesting conveyor arrangement, however there is no disclosure in this patent, or in the other above-cited patents, with regard to the use of a rotatable wheel having longitudinal slots in order to move articles from one conveyor to another, or to arrange items, including cookies, biscuits and the like, for further processing or packaging by putting them in a particular alignment.